


Dark Corners

by m3aculpa



Category: Glee
Genre: Claustrophobia, Community: glee_angst_meme, Gen, Mild Language, Panic Attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-24
Updated: 2010-08-24
Packaged: 2017-10-24 04:58:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/259268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m3aculpa/pseuds/m3aculpa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They meant well - all they wanted was to get Puck and Kurt to settle their differeneces. They had no idea that something like this would happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dark Corners

**Author's Note:**

> **Title:** Dark Corners  
>  **Fandom:** Glee **  
> Rating:** PG  
>  **Characters/Pairings:** Kurt, Puck, Sue, Burt, the Glee club's present  
>  **Warnings:** Puck's potty mouth, morbid imagery?  
>  **Word count:** 2101  
>  **Prompt:** Written for [this](http://community.livejournal.com/glee_angst_meme/3065.html?thread=2928377) prompt at the [](http://glee-angst-meme.livejournal.com/profile)[**glee_angst_meme**](http://glee-angst-meme.livejournal.com/) : _The Gleeks and Will are starting to get tired of Kurt and Puck always arguing/bickering with each other and decide that it would be funny to lock them in a closet together so that they can sort out there differences. While trying to force them into the closet Kurt tries to escape and begs them not to, when they are locked in the closet Kurt bangs on the door and screams to be let out. Will and the gleeks just sing and play louder to drown out the sound because they think that he is just being a Drama Queen but what they don't know is that Kurt is severely claustrophobic and his having a full blown panic attack inside the closet. Puck tries his best to calm him down but since Puck was a contributing factor to his claustrophobia his presence is just making the situation worse for Kurt.  
>  When the rest of New Directions decide to let them out of the closet they are surprised to find a nearly catatonic Kurt and a hysterical Puck._
> 
>  _Cue - Guilty!Gleeks, Guilty!Will, Freaked-out!Puck and Angry!Puck_
> 
>  _Bonus for Angry!Burt and including Sue in any way._  
>  **Summary** : They meant well - all they wanted was to get Puck and Kurt to settle their differeneces. They had no idea that something like this would happen.

Okay, so maybe he and Hummel have been arguing more frequently lately. And maybe it is mostly his fault, but, dude, come on! Hummel is an easy target! You just have to make some remark about that Gaga dude or something else that he cares for and he will fly off his handle. If he’d known it was so easy getting a rise out of him, he would have done this earlier.  
   
But this? The Glee club ganging up on them and forcing them into a closet to settle their differences? Not cool.  
   
Hummel’s kicking up a storm. He manages somehow to slip out of the grasp that Finn have on him and tries to escape. He’s just being a drama queen. Puck has realised the futility (Berry must have rubbed off on him somehow – futility? That word is not meant to be in a badass’ vocabulary.) of escaping. He passively lets them push him into the closet.  
   
“Please don’t,” Hummel pleads with them. “Please don’t do this! ‘cedes, help me!”  
   
Aretha just looks at him with mournful eyes. “Sorry, but it’s for your own good.”  
   
Mike’s caught Kurt around the middle and forces him into the closet. They all ignore his protests and pleas, because face it: he’s probably just freaking out about getting his _fancy_ clothes dirty. Puck rolls his eyes and wonders if he has his iPod in his pocket. He thinks he might have left it at home.  
   
The door closes and they are plunged into the darkness. He hears Hummel moving around. There are shuddering breaths coming from his direction. Then the banging starts. Hummel bangs his hands over and over against the door.  
   
“ _Let me out!_ ” he cries out hysterically. “ _Let me out! Let me out!_ Please, let me out! Let me out!”  
   
He keeps banging on the door, but they’re playing music and singing outside. Puck is frozen. With each bang the music becomes louder and louder until Puck has trouble hearing Hummel. It might be because Hummel’s been screaming over and over until his voice gave out.  
   
“Let me out!$” the gay kid croaks and his voice lowers to a whisper. “… let me out. Letmeoutpleasepleaseletmeoutletmeoutletmeoutletmeout.”  
   
He slaps the door one last time and then is quiet. What the hell just happened? Puck wonders. It has scared him more than he wants to admit. Hummel never acts like he’s afraid. He never lets them see how scared he is before they toss him into the dumpster. He is only contemptuous, icy and prissy like Santana in one of her bitch moods.  
   
They’re playing some show tune or whatever. Berry’s voice is grating on his nerves at the moment. It almost overpowers the sounds that Hummel is starting to make. It is small, helpless gasping sounds. They make Puck’s brows furrow in unwanted concern.  
   
“Hummel, you alright?” he asks casually.  
   
“I can’t breathe,” Hummel gasps. “I can’t breathe. Ican’tbreathIcan’tbreathe. I’m going to die. I’m gonna die. I’mgonnadieI’mgonnadieI’mgonnadieI’mgonnadie.”  
   
The words die off and are replaced by huge gasps. It is freaking Puck out and he crawls closer to Hummel. He touches one thin shoulder and Hummel just jerks. He’s trembling so hard it almost feels like he’s vibrating and those strange gasps is making Puck feel afraid. And that’s not something he likes to admit to. Hummel keeps breathing in and not breathing out and for the worst time he wishes that Berry was with them in the closet because she’s such a know-it-all, surely she would know what to do?  
   
“Breathe, Hummel,” he whispers and tries to squeeze his shoulder in a way that tries to be comforting. “In, out, in, out, remember to breathe out?” He doesn’t know what he’s doing. “Come on, dude, _breathe out._ In, out, in, out… please don’t do this.”  
   
Hummel’s breaths just keep speeding up when Puck talks to him. At this rate, Puck doesn’t know what will happen. He isn’t breathing properly. Maybe he’ll die? Puck panics. Hummel can’t die. He just… can’t. Not while trapped in a closet with Puck. Why aren’t they letting them out? Don’t they realise something is wrong?  
   
Puck, at his last wits, grabs Hummel’s shoulders and shakes him. Nothing could have prepared him for the ear-shattering scream he gets for his effort. But Hummel’s breath becomes shallow and silent. It freaks Puck even out more.  
   
They’ve heard the scream and the door opens. The light blinds Puck.  
   
Fuck. Hummel looks dead. It is what he first notices when he can see again. The smaller boy’s skin is grey and bloodless. He’s chewed through his lips so there’s blood on his teeth and blood surrounding his mouth. He just stares blankly ahead. Not really seeing anything. Not really blinking. How long were they in the closet? It must have been an eternity for things to become so bad.  
   
He looks up at the horrified faces of his team mates and blurts out the first thing that comes to mind:  
   
“I didn’t kill him!”  
   
But Hummel looks so pale and lifeless and _dead_ so he doesn’t blame them if they think that he’s killed him.  
   
*************  
   
He’s drowning. There’s a storm roaring in his ears and the rough waves drag him under. He tries to fight against them. His body just twitches helplessly. He can’t move enough to escape to the surface. He’s paralysed.  
   
 _I’m going to die. I’m going to die. I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die. I’M GONNA DIE. I’MGONNADIEI’MGONNADIEI’MGONNADIEI’MGONNADIEI’MGONNADIEI’MGONNADIEI’MGONNADIEI’MGONNADIEI’MGONNADIE._  
   
There’s a voice taunting him as he drowns. It is whispering to him to breathe in the water. He knows that it is malicious, because, somehow, he knows that it has caused him to almost drown before. The waves crash down and drag him deeper under with each vowel the voice utters.  
   
 _… daddy help me…_  
   
Something touches him and he screams in terror, because it wants to hurt him. He swallows water, is pulled over and…  
   
… everything is over.  
   
That’s what he believes for the eternity seems to pass before a strong hand and voice pulls him to the surface.  
   
*************  
   
Sue was just passing by the choir room. She does that on occasion. It is inevitable that it would end up as her trophy room and she is already planning what it will look like. She is also making up plans for how she will exorcise all traces of William Schuester and the little elves that live in his hair from the room. She is afraid that she might have to ask that pathetic guidance counsellor for tips on disinfection.  
   
She was just passing by when she saw the entire Glee club crowding Gay Kid, who looked half-dead. Aretha looked like she’s about to cry and was saying something probably most deeply heartfelt to the comatose kid. He probably didn’t hear a thing.  
   
Oh, well, who was Sue Sylvester to interfere with some ritualistic killing of Glee club members?  
   
She wanted to be on her way. But when Sue Sylvester saw a room full of people that lacked proper guidance, she knew she had to step up to the plate and show them what it meant to be a winner. It was up to Sue Sylvester to get them to back off, coax Gay Kid back to consciousness and get somebody to call his father.  
   
“For the last time, Sue,” William hisses in frustration and guilt. “I did _not_ know that Kurt was claustrophobic. If I had known I never would have…”  
   
Gay Kid is crying silently. It is an improvement from when he asked for his dad in a tiny voice. But Sue can’t find it in herself to fault him his emotionality. He is physically exhausted after all. She even allows him to clutch her arm tightly, even though it hurts from where he digs his nails in. It’s just a little pain. She even pats him twice on the head to calm him down, like she would do for a dog.  
   
“I’m sorry, William,” she says. “But I did not hear a single thing you just said, since I am wondering which hospital that could treat you for the dementia clearly brought on by the amount of toxic product you use on your hair.”  
   
He begins to protest with outrage and guilt, but she simply holds her hand up to stop him. Lady Face is not paying any sort of attention to their conversation.  
   
“Let me put it in simple terms that a man such as yourself can understand, William,” Sue says harshly. “And with ‘a man such as yourself’ I do mean a man that would accidentally poison himself with hair products. And yes, once again I am making fun of your incredibly stupid hair style.”  
   
She leans forward just as much as Gay Kid’s vicelike grip on her arm will allow. She fixes William with a stare like that of a predator on its prey.  
   
“You are an educator,” she says simply. “Yes, one that enjoys using platitudes a little too much and thinks the world consists of rainbows and puppies. But you are an _educator_. It doesn’t matter that Lady Face here…”  
   
“His name is Kurt,” William rudely injects.  
   
“… that _Lady Face_ here – honestly do I look like a care, William? – is claustrophobic. As an educator you should make sure that kids are not shoved into closets – not shove them into one yourself! Lady Face’s parents could sue. And I wouldn’t blame them.”  
   
“But miss Sylvester,” the brunette who sounds like a harpy says timidly, “we didn’t mean to…”  
   
“You didn’t _mean_ to,” Sue quotes. “So because you ‘didn’t mean to’, that makes it okay?”  
   
She looks around at the guilty-looking club that seems close to tears. She feels a tiny bit of satisfaction. Her methods may be cruel and unusual and seem a bit mad, but they have a purpose. She wouldn’t do this. And it surprises her that William would.  
   
Commotion outside, makes her lift her eyes from the group outside. A man in a flannel shirt and baseball cap stands outside the room. He is shouting at Figgins that he they can talk legal bullshit once somebody shows him where his son is. Sue feels a flicker of interest – this is a man she could possibly respect. Figgins just indicates to the room and the man storms in.  
   
“Mister Hummel,” William says and tries to stop him, tries to prepare him – Lady Face does look bad after all. Nobody has had presence of mind to bring him some towels to wash off the blood from his face.  
   
“Shut it, Schuester,” the man snaps and looks a little like an enraged bear. “Where were you when they decided to lock my _severely_ claustrophobic son in a closet? And for that matter,” he swivels his eyes over them all, “where were any of you when a couple of idiots tossed him into the dumpster and then closed the lid, piling stuff on it, so he couldn’t open it from the inside? He was in there for hours before any of you realised he was even missing!”  
   
He gains second wind, but Sue is more interested in two of the glee clubbers’ reactions. Mohawk and Freakishly Tall are looking guilty and horrified. She vaguely remembers that. Not enough to remember that Lady Face was the victim. But enough to be disgusted with Figgins weakness and lack of resolve to sort it out once the jocks closed ranks. She despises weakness.  
   
“Dad,” Gay Kid cuts him off before he can get started. “ _Please_. I just wanna go home.”  
   
The transformation is astounding. The man just kneels by their side and gets Lady Face to release Sue’s arm. He murmurs a quiet thank you, before lifting his kid into his arms. Lady Face burrows his face into the shirt and shudders. The man threatens to sue them before walking out of the room.  
   
“Well,” Sue says and gets to her feet. “That’s that.”  
   
She leaves the room now that the entertainment is gone and she can’t shove Schuester’s face into his failures. But for the first time in a long, long time she feels something low beyond the neck. It makes her stop and take a parting shot at them,  
   
“Congratulations, buddy.”  
   
William just looks tired. “Why, Sue?”  
   
“You did my work for me,” she says with a bright, malicious smile. “Do you honestly expect Gay Kid to return to this pathetic club? You’ll never find a replacement before Regionals. Glee club is over.”  
   
The stricken, guilty looks bring her a great amount of satisfaction.  
   
She leaves them to deal with the mess.  



End file.
